“The best place to stay! Ever!” I stayed there with my boyfriend for a week and it was fantastic. The place is spacious, but cozy, the view is very nice and it was a great pleasure spending evenings on the terrace or by the pool. Plus the village and t

“Wonderful property and wonderful hosts.” We stayed here for two weeks with our extended family and have never had a better holiday rental.This is a real family home full of beautiful things, immaculately presented and spotlessly clean. The owners Rita

“Really Nice Villa and had a lovely stay” Hag a great family holiday here with our two grown up kids. We took both apartments and they were able to have their own living area and be relatively independent.
The villa is well away from the road and had

“Superb Villa”

Reviewed 22 Sep 2015

Superb villa which has a super location with a large private plot with a lovely pool area.
Super service of the hosts, who came with homemade cake and local delicacies.
Can recommend this villa - we… More

Thank you for taking the time to submit a review. We are happy you enjoyed the care taken of you by the owners and also the privacy at this beautiful place. We hope to hear from you another time. Lorraine at tuscan-retreats

“Fantastic stay with perfect hosts” Fantastic property. Wonderful hosts and spotlessly clean. The pool was wonderful but a little cold. A very spacious block with a large space for the kids to play in. Eduardo and Eugenio could not have been more accom

“Lovely setting”

Reviewed 7 Oct 2014

Lovely spot, very quiet.
Main problem was the pool, it was freezing! despite the web site focusing on the "heated" pool. It was also very deep even at the shallow end only one of the party could touc… More

“Stunning views and relaxing stay” Our family of 6 stayed here in late August 2015. The pool, though unheated was used daily by the kids, even on a rainy day. There was plenty of space both inside the house and in the immaculately kept grounds. It's ve

Top Destination reviews

Villa Piazza

What a hidden gem !!

Was looking for a decent sized villa for 2 x couples, in rural Garfagagna region of Northern Tuscany. Typed in&quot; Lucca region&quot; in search engine, and many hundreds of properties came up.
Many appeared suitable, but wanted a swimming pool, and at least 2 bathrooms. Lots of properties seemed to fit the bill, but many had 1 x en-suite, and the other was just a shower room , more often than not, downstairs off the kitchen etc- not really suitable for our means.
After further searching, came across Villa Piazza, in Piazza de Serchio, which at 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms ( not 4 as in description) more than covered our needs (.A bedroom each for light sleepers !) With a bit of negotiation on price we obtained this massive villa for little more than £40 pp per night.
Yes- you do need a car- we flew into Pisa airport and used Maggiore car rentals- who were very good. Get a smallish car, some of the roads and villages you negotiate are not big car friendly. The directions we received were excellent, and we arrived at villa after about a 90 minute journey from airport. ( If you have one, take a Tom-Tom ( Europe) as back up) and get a decent map.
On arrival at villa, we entered through electric gates and were met by our hosts , Carlos &amp; Rita. They are a lovely senior Italian couple, who don't speak a word of English- but showed us around, and explained everything, with much smiling and hand-waving.
Rita is famous for looking after her guests, and we were met with a massive sponge cake ( yummy), and a great Tiramasu later in the week.
The grounds of the villa are enormous , and beautifully looked after by Carlos. It was a pleasure to dine outside, ( at least 3 outside dining areas), and just study the flora , plus of course the great mountain views. A bit later in the season, there are tons of fruit trees on the property, which I'm sure you can help yourself to- cherries, apples, pears, figs etc.
It is not a modern house, but very typical of an Italian family property. More linen, tablecloths, glasses, crockery, pictures, vases etc. than I've ever seen in one house. However. extremely comfortable , and everything worked. Loads of hot water, and 2 x kitchens if you need. 4 couples , or a couple of extended families would fit in easily. Think I counted 3 x cots ! There are play barns in the gardens for kids, and even a kids slide into pool. Loads of tellies, dvd players, and also Wi-Fi available.
Said the pool was solar-heated. We were there after a week of high temperatures, and it took a bit of getting into. Couldn't see any solar panels, so not sure how accurate that was- still didn't stop us getting in, and you did get used to it quickly. Also, has an electric cover, which was great, no dragging a plastic one over each night.
The village shops are a 5 min walk uphill. A supermarket that stocks everything, a bread shop, and a veg shop, run by the lovely Enrica, who was the only person we found who could speak any English !
You can eat in/ BBQ, or the main pizza restaurant in the square, has a great view back over the mountains, and is pretty cheap. Go for the &quot;table&quot; pizza, with 4 x different toppings- feeds 4 easily for 20 euros. If they have steak on, a 500gm steak will feed 2 comfortably- it comes on the bone, and they cook it over coals- best steak I've ever had- and 5 euros per person. 2 x other restaurants in village we tried were ok, but the pizzeria was best- and always full of locals.
We did a lot of touring round the hills and discovering small mountainside villages, with great views- and little cafes/restaurants to eat. Especially recommend Roggio village, great restaurant/hotel there- and Maria (aka Gemma) will look after you with her home made pastas- and she speaks English.
Day trips- there's a station in village, so use the train. Lucca , the walled city is lovely, and Florence is a must. Go by train, even though you have to change in Lucca. We made mistake of going by car. Took over 2 hours each way, and parking is a nightmare- think we may even be getting a 100 euro fine for entering a restricted zone without realising.
take the &quot;Segway&quot; tour in Florence. Its brilliant- see my review on Tripadvisor.
Pisa is also a &quot;must&quot; visit. That tower must topple over soon ?!
We had a great week- and for us , the villa was brilliant. It was real rural Italy. No tourists, except us, about, but we were really well accepted everywhere. - Had some strange food on occasions- but we didn't go hungry.
Would thoroughly recommend for those who want a relaxing, non-beach, holiday.
Down side- only one really. Seems every Italian family has a dog, and some did bark during the night- but you did get used to it. …
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We stayed here for 2 weeks in June. The location &amp; accommodation were just what we were looking for. Quite &amp; peaceful but good location to visit Lucca, Florence &amp; Barga to name a few. The 3 generations of the family are helpful if needed but speaking Italian helps. It's great to have a pool but it was too cold to use during our stay. The butchers shop in the village is great as he sells bread, butter and even red wine!! There's a good selection of restaurants within 10 minutes drive. Overall a lovely place …
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Lama Piana A&amp;nbsp;

Wonderful surroundings and wonderful pool

We have been twice at Lama Piana and both times we have had a wonderful vacation.
The big garden which allows for playing football, Frisbee etc. is fantastic. So is the pool which has a perfect size and Eduardo (the owner) is very good at keeping the pool clean.
Indeed Eduardo is the perfect host - he is easy to get in contact with, very willing to help and still he is very discrete.
The house has a perfect size (we are a family of five persons), and the beds (mattrasses) are even better than our own!
The house is clean and there are plenty of towels in different sizes - and the smell of clean towels is just the best :-)
We can definitely recommend Lama Piana. …
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La Sambuca Cicala

Magical place

most delightful place. The views are just breathtaking and we simply wanted to stay around the cottage to enjoy the atmosphere. We had plenty of fun picking up tomatoes and plumbs from the garden. Very comfortable stay . The only thing to be aware is that you really need a car and plenty of experience as driver …
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Cottage San Michele

Tuscan delight

We have a wonderful week at Cottage San Michel. Perfect house, gorgeous grounds, stunning surroundings, the ideal distance from the village to stretch our legs and get the daily bread and shop (with a dip in the river on the way!). Our arrival was aided by the helpful info pack, the fact that the owners have a pizzeria and we were able to get food after 10pm and be guided to the house to avoid end-of-the-road lost-and-tired syndrome. We'd been to Tuscany 3 or 4 times before. I'd def stay here again. PS make sure you visit Castelnuovo's Friday Market and book for a lunchtime tasting at Osteria Vecchio Mulino - leading the way in promoting good produce PAT style (prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali). Yum. …
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Rustico Lamola

Tuscan Bliss

We spend 8 days at Rustico Lamola with extended family (six people). From the welcome to the time we left, it was clear this place was special. The house is beautifully decorated with private places to relax and communal spaces to congregate. The views were out of this world and privacy was absolute. The pool was fabulous fun with a spa feature which we all loved. The pool was fairly cold but perfect for warm days in Summer. Highly recommended! …
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